Get the Dolans off the dole
New York Daily News Editorial 06-03-04
Charles Dolan and his son James, the major-domos of the pay-TV and sports empire Cablevision, have embarked on one of the most disingenuous and hypocritical public relations campaigns in modern memory - which is saying a mouthful, this being New York, the capital of unashamed flackery.
The Dolans have set their sights on preventing the football Jets from investing $800 million in a domed stadium on Manhattan's West Side, moving the team home and giving the city a world-class facility that can host events such as the Super Bowl - while generating $75 million a year in city and state tax revenue. Why would the Dolans oppose such a boon? The answer is simple: money.
Their corporate hobbyhorse owns the Knicks, Rangers and Madison Square Garden, a past-its-prime arena that still generates big bucks. So, desperate to kill the competition aborning, the Dolans have been force-feeding their cable subscribers commercials depicting the stadium as a $600 million giveaway that will starve schools and firehouses for funding - and perhaps literally starve the elderly.
None of which is true. And the ads are just as outrageously misleading for what they don't say. They don't say they're bankrolled by Cablevision, hiding the company's sponsorship behind the do-good name of the New York Association for Better Choices. And the commercials most assuredly do not reveal that the Dolans and Cablevision are themselves on the public dole.
In the 10 years they have controlled the Garden, they've taken $80million out of taxpayers' pockets because the arena - which charges $100,000 to hold Police Academy graduations and will pull in $5 million from the GOP convention - is exempt from property taxes.
This cozy arrangement goes back 22 years, when the Garden's then-owner extorted the city by threatening to move the Knicks and Rangers. It continued as the teams became hugely profitable and the Garden passed through generations of corporate owners. Cablevision and ITT became landlords in 1994, and Cablevision took sole title in 1997. Over all those years, the tax break exceeds $200 million.
The Dolans' ads are serving one good. They're focusing attention on public subsidies for sports enterprises. The tax windfall generated by a Jets stadium that also serves as an annex for the Javits Convention Center would more than repay public investments. Cablevision offers the city no such benefit. It's time to take the Dolans' subsidy away.
http://www.newyorkjets.com/stadium/dailynews-06-03-04.php
jake · 2004-06-21
Get the Dolans off the dole New York Daily News Editorial 06-03-04 Charles Dolan and his son James, the major-domos of the pay-TV and sports empire Cablevision, have embarked on one of the most disingenuous and hypocritical public relations campaigns in modern memory - which is saying a mouthful, this being New York, the capital of unashamed flackery. The Dolans have set their sights on preventing the football Jets from investing $800 million in a domed stadium on Manhattan's West Side, moving the team home and giving the city a world-class facility that can host events such as the Super Bowl - while generating $75 million a year in city and state tax revenue. Why would the Dolans oppose such a boon? The answer is simple: money. Their corporate hobbyhorse owns the Knicks, Rangers and Madison Square Garden, a past-its-prime arena that still generates big bucks. So, desperate to kill the competition aborning, the Dolans have been force-feeding their cable subscribers commercials depicting the stadium as a $600 million giveaway that will starve schools and firehouses for funding - and perhaps literally starve the elderly. None of which is true. And the ads are just as outrageously misleading for what they don't say. They don't say they're bankrolled by Cablevision, hiding the company's sponsorship behind the do-good name of the New York Association for Better Choices. And the commercials most assuredly do not reveal that the Dolans and Cablevision are themselves on the public dole. In the 10 years they have controlled the Garden, they've taken $80million out of taxpayers' pockets because the arena - which charges $100,000 to hold Police Academy graduations and will pull in $5 million from the GOP convention - is exempt from property taxes. This cozy arrangement goes back 22 years, when the Garden's then-owner extorted the city by threatening to move the Knicks and Rangers. It continued as the teams became hugely profitable and the Garden passed through generations of corporate owners. Cablevision and ITT became landlords in 1994, and Cablevision took sole title in 1997. Over all those years, the tax break exceeds $200 million. The Dolans' ads are serving one good. They're focusing attention on public subsidies for sports enterprises. The tax windfall generated by a Jets stadium that also serves as an annex for the Javits Convention Center would more than repay public investments. Cablevision offers the city no such benefit. It's time to take the Dolans' subsidy away.Get Dolans off the Dole
http://www.newyorkjets.com/stadium/dailynews-06-03-04.php